1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to the fields of video on demand (VOD) and set-top appliances. In particular, the invention relates to providing visual indications on a set-top appliance to indicate application layer connectivity and completion status of content download between the set-top appliance and a VOD service.
2. Description of Related Technology
With the recent advances in computing, storage and telecommunications technologies, the ability to download and watch audio/video content over a network connection is opening up new opportunities to deploy VOD services. For example, in a download-and-view VOD service, users can access content over the Internet, download it to a local storage device and view the content at a later time. One architectural element of such a service is a client device with local storage that downloads content from network servers.
Need to Display Download Progress
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/928,451 entitled “Method and apparatus for downloading content” filed Aug. 27, 2004, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, a method is disclosed for downloading content from servers of a download-and-view VOD service to a client device. This method includes a software download manager executed on a client device to prioritize and manage download tasks of multiple download requests.
The download manager described in this reference performs content download by prioritizing such operations from a work list of all download requests. Some work items from this list may be of immediate interest to a user (e.g., the user may want to watch the program as soon as the download is finished and therefore may want a notification of completion of download).
When a VOD client device is connected to a television display, such notification may require either displaying messages on the television screen or a user having to invoke a “status” screen on the client device (via for example a remote control) and check from time to time on the progress of the download. Both these methods are inconvenient or disruptive to a user's viewing of another program. The first method further is limited in that if the television is turned off, a visual indicator of download completion cannot be displayed to the user.
Need to Display Connectivity
In co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/966,403 entitled “Method and apparatus for management of video on demand client device” filed Oct. 14, 2004, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference, a method is disclosed for the management of content stored on a VOD client device in multiple ways—direct interaction with the client device and/or interaction with a replica dataset of the client device parameters stored on a network server. An implementation of the method includes download manager software running on a client device that is in periodic communication with a corresponding network-side server. This periodic communication is important to maintain synchronization between a client device's local content database and a replica thereof maintained on the VOD service provider's server.
For reasons such as ensuring proper operation of the client device, maintaining user satisfaction with the service, effective customer support and so on, it is important for the user to know that the content management application running on the client device is in communication with the corresponding server side software agent. A visual indication of such connection without the user having to either turn on or tune away his/her television is important.
Conventional solutions have recognized the need to display connectivity of networked devices at a physical layer level. For example, many cable modems have LEDs indicating the presence of a cable signal. Similarly many network devices with an Ethernet jack have a connectivity light that indicates the presence of an Ethernet carrier. Similarly, blinking lights that represent data traffic are provided on many devices to indicate active network communication.
However, the present inventors have recognized that such techniques fall short of the need for a download-and-view VOD client device as discussed above where is the requirement is to show not presence or absence of carrier signal or data traffic (i.e., physical layer connectivity), but an application layer connection with a server-side application ensuring the synchronization of the states of the client-side and the server-side components.
Thus, described herein are methods and apparatus to display such application layer connectivity that includes mechanisms to reflect synchronization of states of the client and server side components and to reflect the current download status of multimedia content. Such techniques preferably provide visual feedback of the status of connectivity and content download without a user having to turn on the television, tune away from a program being viewed, or having to view an overlay on an existing program.